The proposed Gateway Pacific coal export terminal has become a lightning rod issue. Puget Sound mayors, Indian tribes and environmentalists have led the opposition.

The proposed Gateway Pacific coal export terminal has become a lightning rod issue. Puget Sound mayors, Indian tribes and environmentalists have led the opposition.

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People march along the Burke-GIlman Trail during a February protest against proposed coal trains.

People march along the Burke-GIlman Trail during a February protest against proposed coal trains.

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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A protest prop crosses railroad tracks during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and eventually to Asia. Opposition to the plan has been fierce, especially in Western Washington. less

A protest prop crosses railroad tracks during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and ... more

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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Kristen Elder holds her daughter Miranda, 6, during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle.

Kristen Elder holds her daughter Miranda, 6, during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle.

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People march along the Burke-GIlman Trail during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and eventually to Asia. Opposition to the plan has been fierce, especially in Western Washington. less

People march along the Burke-GIlman Trail during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and ... more

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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Hannah Ast, 6, chases down a polar bear puppet during a protest against proposed coal trains.

Hannah Ast, 6, chases down a polar bear puppet during a protest against proposed coal trains.

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People cross railroad tracks during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle. Opposition to the plan has been fierce, especially in Western Washington.

People cross railroad tracks during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle. Opposition to the plan has been fierce, especially in Western Washington.

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People cross railroad tracks during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle.

People cross railroad tracks during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle.

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People gather during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle at Seattle's Golden Garden's Park. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and eventually to Asia. Opposition to the plan has been fierce, especially in Western Washington. less

People gather during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle at Seattle's Golden Garden's Park. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and ... more

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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Lenore Bussing carries a sign during a protest against proposed coal trains.

Lenore Bussing carries a sign during a protest against proposed coal trains.

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People gather during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle.

People gather during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle.

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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A prop is carried during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle at Seattle's Golden Garden's Park. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and eventually to Asia. Opposition to the plan has been fierce, especially in Western Washington. less

A prop is carried during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle at Seattle's Golden Garden's Park. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships ... more

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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Peter Weston wears stilts as he marches during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and eventually to Asia. Opposition to the plan has been fierce, especially in Western Washington. less

Peter Weston wears stilts as he marches during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and ... more

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People march during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and eventually to Asia. Opposition to the plan has been fierce, especially in Western Washington. less

People march during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and eventually to Asia. Opposition to ... more

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People march during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle at Seattle's Golden Garden's Park. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and eventually to Asia. Opposition to the plan has been fierce, especially in Western Washington. less

People march during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle at Seattle's Golden Garden's Park. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and ... more

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People gather during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle at Seattle's Golden Garden's Park. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and eventually to Asia. Opposition to the plan has been fierce, especially in Western Washington. less

People gather during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle at Seattle's Golden Garden's Park. The trains are part of a proposal to ship coal from the U.S. via rail to ships and ... more

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People march during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle.

People march during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle.

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People march during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle.

People march during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle.

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People march during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle.

People march during a protest against proposed coal trains that would pass through Seattle.

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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People march along the Burke-GIlman Trail during a protest against proposed coal trains.

People march along the Burke-GIlman Trail during a protest against proposed coal trains.

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

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Big no-coal-train protest on cold day

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A big march at Shilshole Bay by Seattle-area greens, and a much bigger environmental protest in Washington, D.C., delivered a message to President Obama as he played a Sunday round of golf with Tiger Woods in Palm City, Florida: Walk your talk on climate change.

The D.C. protest was keyed to the Keystone Pipeline, which would transport oil from Alberta’s huge, dirty oil sands project to Gulf Coast and Texas refineries in the United States. Several high-profile greens — including actress Daryl Hannah and activist-professional celebrity Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — were arrested last week when they chained themselves to the White House gate.

The marchers on a raw Seattle winter day, a cold mist falling in 40-degree weather, had a more immediate target, the proposed Gateway Pacific coal port, at Cherry Point, north of Bellingham.

The coal port would send 18 trains, each a mile to mile-and-a-half long, along the Seattle waterfront each day. The coal would fuel coal plants in China, which has overtaken the United States as the world’s greatest emitter of greenhouse gases.

“We know how to create jobs here in a clean way . . . Those trains will clog up Sodo and clog up our waterfront and hurt the jobs that are here,” Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn told a crowd of about 350 protesters. A former Sierra Club leader, McGinn set out to turn the jobs vs. the environment argument against coal port boosters.

Opponents of the Gateway Pacific project received a piece of good news — a big piece of good news — on Sunday. A leading coal export booster predicted that public opposition will block the Cherry Point project.

“There’s so much resistance in the community: Unless that local resistance changes, coal is not going to be shipped at Cherry Point,” former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who stepped down in January, told the Bellingham Herald. Schweitzer has visited Washington to lobby for location of terminals that would ship Montana and Wyoming coal to China.

Obama delivered a strong message on climate change during Tuesday’s State-of-the-Union speech. The green movement is pulling out all the stops to get action on the message. While it has taken unprecedented steps to encourage “clean” energy development, the Obama administration has opened millions of acres of public land to oil and gas leasing — while preserving very little.

“The talking is way, way over: The time to act is now. Walk the talk. The first thing he (Obama) can do is use his pen to veto the Keystone Pipeline. President Obama needs to step up now,” Robin Everett of the Sierra Club told the Seattle crowd. “We need to make sure we hold President Obama accountable.

The “biggest threat” of the coal ports, Everett, argued is “the project is expanding climate change.” Opponents have argued that inexpensive coal from Wyoming and Montana will make it economical for China to keep old, polluting coal power plants in operation.

The coal day protest was also designed to hold another politician’s feet to the fire. Gov. Jay Inslee has a significant role in how sweeping and ambitious to make environmental studies of the Cherry Point project, and another coal terminal proposed for Longview. Often a noisy green, Inslee has been circumspect on the coal ports.

“Governor Inslee needs to step up and walk his talk to make sure this doesn’t happen in our backyard,” said Everett.

The coal ports initially lined up backing from labor unions, local politicians and business groups. But, as Schweitzer acknowledged, a grassroots opposition movement has grown up especially in the port cities of Puget Sound.

Significant worries on the environmental front — such as increasing acidification of Puget Sound waters caused by climate change — have been coupled with concerns about transportation and the impact that coal trains will have on jobs already here.

Except when Daryl Hannah and new generations of Kennedys get arrested — especially when one is a former beau of Taylor Swift — the greens have experienced difficulty attracting the attention of East Coast media.

The Sunday protest in Seattle relentlessly courted media coverage with promises of “GOOD VISUALS”, a cardboard passenger train and a costumed polar bear that first made its appearance at a coal port protest in December.